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Stolen PCs Learn to Phone Home

Techstination feature for Tuesday, January 8, 2002

If your PC is lost or stolen... have it phone home. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. They are stolen from airports, hotels and offices all the time... and most are never recovered. Notebook computers are easy targets for thieves. But a company called Brigadoon Software is selling a product it says can help. PC PhoneHome ...

"Well it's a software application that allows someone to put a program on their computer that basically they can tell it where they want it to send an email ... and it will send an email either once a day or every time it changes location and allows you, in case it's ever lost or stolen, to be able to track, literally, wherever your computer is. So the next time it's stolen, if it ever goes onto the Internet, it will send you, basically phone home, tells you exactly, gives you the location that you'll be able to track it literally right down to where it phoned in."

Brigadoon Software's Terrance Kawles. You would need some help from law enforcement in being able to trace the location of the network the stolen computer is on... but it can be done. Kawles says the software stays hidden and is not easily removed...

"If someone either did a Format C or an Fdisk command we would survive that and the next time if they reinstalled the operating system, it would still be there, stay resident and would phone home."

A lite version of the software for PCs and Macs is available for free at PCPhonehome.com. The pro version..that can withstand the Format command... costs about thirty dollars. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.